2016 City of Fremantle T.A.G. Hungerford Award submissions now open

$12,000 writing prize up for grabs
Submissions for the 2016 City of Fremantle T.A.G. Hungerford Award are open.
Western Australia’s longest running and most prestigious award for an unpublished
manuscript offers a cash prize of $12,000 from the City of Fremantle and a publishing
contract with Fremantle Press.

Speaking from a surf trip in the Caribbean, 2014 winner Madelaine Dickie joked that
she’d considered blowing her prize money on lobsters and rum but was actually
going to use it for a writing retreat.

‘You can write when you work full-time, but it’s hard. The prize money means I can
buy myself some time to keep practising what I love. For me, winning the Hungerford
has been the single most important event in my life as a writer,’ said Dickie.

Dickie won the award for Troppo, a work of fiction that will be published in August
2016. Set during the uneasy years of the Bali nightclub and Jakarta embassy
bombings, Troppo explores Australia’s relationship with Indonesia – a theme that
couldn’t be more topical.

Fremantle Press publisher Georgia Richter said Dickie wasn’t the only shortlisted 2014
Hungerford entrant to secure a publishing contract. She said Portland Jones and
Mihaela Nicolescu both have books coming out in 2016 – the latter with Fremantle
Press.

‘The Hungerford has been running for over two decades and is part of Fremantle
Press’s mission to find and publish new and emerging Western Australian authors.
That’s a commitment to local writers that hasn’t wavered in our 40-year history,’ said
Richter.

Richter said the Hungerford was the only Western Australian award judged
anonymously.

‘Above all, the judges are looking for the kind of story that grips you and doesn’t let
you go. It’s always hugely exciting to discover a new voice, and new talent, in this
way,’ said Richter.

The City of Fremantle T.A.G. Hungerford Award is a biennial award that celebrates
literary merit and originality, and is given for a full-length manuscript of fiction or
creative non-fiction by a Western Australian author previously unpublished in book
form. Past recipients of the award are Brenda Walker, Gail Jones, Natasha Lester,
Jacqueline Wright, Robert Edeson, Nathan Hobby, Bruce Russell, Christopher Murray,
Donna Mazza, Simone Lazaroo and Alice Nelson.